


Merry and Bright

by mmorgan317



Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Bad Things Happen Bingo, Christmas Fluff, Family, prompt: twisted ankle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-21
Updated: 2020-03-21
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:35:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23245621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mmorgan317/pseuds/mmorgan317
Summary: While on his way to Gil’s for a Christmas Eve dinner, Malcolm slips on some ice. As Gil continues getting dinner ready, the team (mainly Edrisa) patches him up.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 71





	Merry and Bright

**Author's Note:**

> Rating: PG-13
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing of PS, including but not limited to its characters, plots, scenery, etc. I also have no idea what kind of home Gil would own so I made one up because like the idea of him living in a nice house in a nice neighborhood. 
> 
> Author’s Note(s): I wanted a team Christmassy fic, so here it is, lol 
> 
> 2) Written for Bad Things Happen Bingo. Prompt - Twisted Ankle

The snowfall was thick and heavy, quickly covering everything in a white blanket of purity that would be marred the minute people stepped out of their homes the next morning. The winter storm had blown in early in the morning, the winds it brought strong enough to cut through any layer used to keep it at bay. By noon, the temperature had dropped below freezing, making those that were out on Christmas Eve want to hurry home and at dusk, the snow came. And it would stay until God only knew when, muddying the streets and creating accidents left and right.

For now, though, it was peaceful.

_And cold,_ Malcolm added while he lay on the ground watching the fat flakes as they landed on his face. Since it hid the sidewalk, he blamed the snow for not having seen the patch of ice before he slipped and fell on it. Though he probably should have, he hadn’t moved since he’d fallen; his body was too busy reacting to the pain that flared hotly in his ankle and back for his mind to comprehend moving.

He had just talked himself into getting up when he heard a front door one house down from where he was open. “Bright?” Dani called, making Malcolm sigh. He’d hoped to be able to get away with the accident with no one being the wiser. Apparently he wasn’t that lucky. “You good?”

“Yeah,” he answered, sighing once again when two sets of footfalls approached instead of just the one. “Just, you know,” he waved his hand directionlessly, “enjoying the scenery.”

“Looks like you’re becoming a part of the scenery to me,” JT said, his voice surprising Malcolm. Of all the people he would have imagined coming outside with Dani to check on him, JT hadn’t made the list. Which wasn’t to say that he wasn’t happy that JT had come. On the contrary, he much preferred JT’s blunt, seemingly uncaring, manner to one that would be over-worried about minor injuries. 

Malcolm slightly nodded his head, silently conceding the detective’s point.

“Want some help?” Dani asked with something like amusement in her voice.

“That’d be great,” Malcolm admitted, holding up his thankfully empty hands. He’d sent the gifts he’d gotten the others home with Gil earlier in the day so that he wouldn’t have to worry about bringing them with him. His current situation proved that to be a wise decision.

Together, Dani and JT hauled Malcolm off the ground and to a standing position. Malcolm’s grip tightened on each of them as his head swam, using them for support while his blood pressure righted itself.

“You okay, bro?” JT asked with a small amount of concern in his voice.

“Yeah. Got dizzy for a sec,” he answered, offering a smile to prove how fine he was.

“I think JT’s referring to the fact that you aren’t putting weight on your left leg,” Dani filled in. Having forgotten to put her coat on, she shivered under his touch, the chattering of her teeth slowly increasing the longer they stood outside.

“Oh, right,” Malcolm said, not having realized he’d been favoring the leg. He forced it to straighten, his breath hitching as his ankle flexed when his foot touched the ground. Yeah, that was going to be fun to deal with tonight. “It’s nothing,” he assured his friend when she kept watching him, her brows furrowing as she noticed his reaction. “I just twisted my ankle when I fell. I’m fine. You should go inside, though,” he said, hoping to redirect the attention from himself to her. “You’re shivering.”

Dani opened her mouth to say something, her expression saying she wasn’t going to go anywhere, but it was JT who said, “Oh for the love of-” he cut of before he finished the thought, stepping forward and scooping Malcolm up in a bridal-style hold.

“Woah, hey!” Malcolm objected, though he knew he wasn’t really in a position to argue or get down. His breath hitched in a small gasp when the action overstretched his sore back, his jaw clenching to bite down on any sound that might escape. He had a high threshold for pain, but it was harder to deal with when he was surprised by it. More often than not, the expressions came out with his realizing they would. “What?”

“We’re all going to freeze to death if we wait for you to try and limp your way to Gil’s,” the bigger man explained, not even breathing hard as he carried Malcolm towards the house. He shifted Malcolm effortlessly so he had a better hold. “Damn, man, do you ever eat? Tally weighs more than you do.”

Choosing not to acknowledge that observation, Malcolm said, “You guys wouldn’t have had to wait for me, you know, I could have made it there on my own.”

“Before or after you became a human popsicle?” Dani asked, definitely enjoying herself. He was honestly surprised she hadn’t made them stop so she could take a photo to hold over him later. Then again, she could very well have and he may not know it.

They made it to Gil’s home in record time, the bright lights within and without greeting them merrily. It had been a long time since Malcolm had been here, but it felt like yesterday, so much so that he half expected Jackie to greet him at the door with a warm smile and an engulfing hug. His heart ached a little as he remembered that she wouldn’t be there, but he buried it under a quiet groan when he saw Edrisa peek out one of the windows. Great.

JT shifted him again before they went up the short steps to the front door, tightening his hold on Malcolm as he went up them. Unprepared for the pain that shot through his lower back when JT’s arm applied pressure to it, Malcolm hissed, making both Dani and JT check on him.

“You good?” Dani asked, watching him closely as she moved ahead of them to get the door.

Malcolm nodded. “Yeah, fine,” he lied.

Judging by the slight change in position of JT’s right arm, the detective knew something was wrong with his back, but he said nothing as they entered, meeting up with the rest of the group in the foyer.

“Bright, you okay?” Gil asked as he took in the three of them with brows furrowed in concern. Edrisa and Tally stood to his left, both mirroring his expression to varying degrees.

“He hurt his ankle falling on some ice,” Dani answered before Malcolm had a chance to, the tattletale. “JT thought this was a quicker method for getting him inside rather than waiting for him to try to do it on his own.”

“Well, if he’s hurt, he shouldn’t be doing too much walking, anyways,” Edrisa added, her tone clinical and offhand.

“Put him on the sofa in the living room,” Gil commanded, his eyes roaming over Malcolm as though to determine how badly he was hurt. “Dani, you know where the supplies are.”

She did? How often had she been here?

“You can put me down,” Malcolm said, looking up at JT. “There’s no need for you to continue carrying me. I can make my way over there on my own.”

“Or I can drop you right here,” JT threatened in a tone that said he might actually do it. For a minute, Malcolm thought he was serious, but then his grip briefly tightened, his arms tensing. It hurt, but Malcolm didn’t care. He inwardly smiled at the almost possessive hold the detective maintained. JT may have taken a while to warm up to him, but now that he had, he was apparently going to take care of Malcolm whether he needed it or not.

“Not if you know what’s good for you,” Edrisa mumbled, looking off to the side as thought expecting everyone to ignore her. Since they had all been quiet, however, it had been perfectly audible. Both Gil and Tally looked at her with eyebrows raised in surprise, a small smile forming on Gil’s face as though he found the sentiment funny. Although Malcolm couldn’t see JT, he could picture the detective’s expression easily as it no doubt mirrored his wife’s, challenging the ME to try and follow through with her threat. Edrisa looked up when she realized what happened. “That wasn’t supposed to be quite so loud,” she said with embarrassment slightly reddening her cheeks. “Place him where Gil said,” she commanded, evidently taking control of the situation. “I’ll take a look at his ankle while the rest of you go back to your activities.”

“Check on his back, too,” JT said as he effortlessly carried Malcolm to the designated sofa then gently lowered him onto it. “The lower section seems to be bothering him.”

Was everyone going to rat him out? It’s like they didn’t think he was capable of taking care of himself!

Malcolm winced as he settled into the plush cushions, annoyingly giving credence to JT’s observation. He shifted a little so that he was sitting against the back of the couch, inwardly smiling when his feet barely touched the floor. Oversized furniture was meant for people taller than him and sitting on this thing made him feel like he was a kid. The idea made him want to giggle and wiggle his feet.

“Can you or Dani see if Gil has a heating pad?” Edrisa asked JT as she settled onto the coffee table, moving it so that she was a little closer to the sofa.

“There should be one in Gil’s bedroom,” Dani answered, entering the room with a couple bandages and instant ice packs in her hands. When all three of them looked at her in surprise, she said, “What? Sometimes his back hurts after a case.”

“Okay, well, ask him to grab it for me,” Edrisa instructed no one in particular, her focus returning to Malcolm. Her gaze roamed over him like she was checking him for obvious signs of injury or pain. Malcolm fidgeted a little under the scrutiny, wincing a little when pain shot through his back. “Bright’s going to need to borrow it for the evening.”

Dani placed the items by Edrisa’s hip, then she and JT left. Technically, they _all_ could have gone into the den, but Malcolm was apparently surrounded by a bunch of mother hens who refused to believe that he was okay. Well, okay enough to be left alone, anyways.

“This really isn’t necessary,” Malcolm argued, uncomfortable with all the attention that was on him. It was just a sore ankle, after all, it didn’t require this amount of care. “I really am fine.”

“Is that why you favored your left leg when you were getting settled?” Edrisa asked as she gently lifted his leg so that his lower calf rested on her knee. She stopped short of untying his shoe to look at him. “It is the left ankle, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Malcolm answered on a sigh, giving in. Maybe if he let them fix him up, they’d stop fussing over him. Better to get this all over with than to keep fighting it.

Edrisa nodded then untied his shoe and took it off, wrestling with it a little in order to get his foot free. “Sorry,” she said when he practically whimpered in pain. “The amount of swelling made the shoe fit tighter.”

They both knew that, but he didn’t remind her of that. “It’s fine,” he said, making sure to keep his tone warm and forgiving. He didn’t actually think she needed to apologize, but since she was used to working with those who didn’t feel pain, he knew that she felt like she should. “Thank you for doing this,” he said, feeling like he was being ungrateful. “I imagine it must be weird working on a live person.”

“A little,” she acknowledged as she slipped his sock off. She kept her attention on his ankle, looking it over without touching it, as she said, “It’s a little off-putting, knowing that I could be hurting someone. Though I know that it’s sometimes necessary, I don’t like causing people pain. The fact that it’s you, a friend, I mean, makes it even worse.”

“Well, like you said, sometimes the pain is necessary.” Malcolm winced as she began to press on his foot, the brief shots of pain coming as a surprise. He hadn’t realized that it was hurt as well. When she pressed on the inner arch, he actually gasped, both in shock and pain.

Edrisa’s brows furrowed, her expression a mixture of unhappy confusion. She waited a minute, shifting her hold so that her right hand held his calf still while her left pressed again, albeit with less pressure. His leg jumped like his body was trying to escape the pain. Evidently she had been prepared for this since her right hand stopped it from going far. She continued frowning, but she moved on slowly working her way up to his very swollen ankle.

Movement to his right drew Malcolm’s notice to Tally who entered carrying the heating pad. She smiled warmly at him, the expression reminding him so much of Jackie that his heart hurt. “JT said you needed this, Edrisa,” she said, standing off to the side and looking like she didn’t know what to do.

“Perfect,” Edrisa said, looking up at the other woman. She lowered her hands, taking a moment to scan the room, then said, “Plug it in under the table to his left.”

Tally did as instructed, walking behind the sofa rather than in front of it. She plugged the heating pad in then touched his left shoulder. “Lean forward a bit,” she quietly instructed, moving her hand from the back of his shoulder to the front, physically telling him when to stop. “Okay, now lean back.” Using her hand, she controlled his pace, forcing him to move slower than he was.

Once he was settled - and he had to admit, the heat felt good against his sore back - Tally joined him on the sofa. “You know JT wouldn’t have dropped you, right?” she asked as Edrisa opened one of the ace bandage packages. “He may not act like it, but he cares about you. He wouldn’t purposely hurt you.”

“Which was smart on his part,” Edrisa said, her gaze focused on wrapping Malcolm’s ankle. “The Surgeon isn’t the only one who knows how to use a scalpel.”

Malcolm smiled at the protectiveness in Edrisa’s voice. “I know,” he assured Tally. Her brows furrowed in confusion, so he added, “He tightened his hold when he made the threat. I don’t know if it was subconsciously done or not, but either way he told me he was simply joking.”

Tally smiled. “Good.” She gently tapped his hand then got up. “He all fixed up?” she asked, looking at Edrisa.

“As fixed as I can get him,” Edrisa answered on a sigh. “We should wait a little bit before we move him, though; let the heat work on his back for a little while longer.”

“Have I mentioned that I’m fully able of getting to the den on my own?” Malcolm asked, exasperated.

Edrisa and Tally looked at one another. “Not within the last fifteen minutes, I don’t think,” the ME answered. “But, you know what I have said? That you shouldn’t be walking on your ankle. The sprain isn’t that bad, and neither is what I suspect is the strain in your foot, but in order for it to stay that way, you need to give it some rest by staying off of it.”

Tally tapped his hand then stood up. “I’ll go ask JT to help you into the den.”

Malcolm opened his mouth to object, but then Edrisa gave him such a sharp look that he closed it again and gave in. She nodded, seemingly satisfied, then began cleaning up.

“Hey kid,” Gil greeted with a smile, entering the room with an apron covered in flour and a towel over his shoulder. He smiled at the ME as she left to throw the trash away. “Edrisa get you patched up?”

“Yep, all fixed up,” Malcolm answered, hoping he hid his annoyance at the whole situation. When Gil smiled sympathetically, he knew he hadn’t done it at all.

“I know you don’t like people fussing over you,” Gil said in a quiet, gentle voice. “But the truth of the matter is that you have people who care about you and want to take care of you. They’re gonna fuss when you get hurt.”

“You didn’t,” Malcolm said, his tone belying his frustration.

“I didn’t have to,” Gil answered with a smile. “I knew Edrisa would fuss enough for everyone.”

“Hey, I heard that!” Edrisa called from the kitchen. “For your information,” she added, coming to re-join them, “I wasn’t fussing. I was examining an injured patient.”

“And we are very grateful for it,” Gil answered, his tone serious in spite of the smile on his face. “We all know how stubborn Bright is when he’s hurt, and we are all thankful that you were on hand to handle him.”

“I am not that bad,” Malcolm argued after rolling his eyes.

“Yes you are,” Jt answered, entering the room and coming to stand in Edrisa’s former spot in front of the sofa.

“No, I’m not, and I don’t need help getting into the den.”

JT looked up at the others, all of whom who now stood in the doorway with smiles on all their faces, with exasperation on his face. “I’m tellin’ ya man,” he mumbled as he bent down and scooped Malcolm into his arms. “The next time you fall on the ice, I’m gonna leave your sorry ass out there.”

“No you wouldn’t,” Tally said, calling her husband out.

“Yeah, you’re right,” JT admitted, placing Malcolm at the dinner table rather than in the den. “I wouldn’t ever hear the end of it if I did that.” He paused then added, “Not to mention that I heard someone threatened me with a scalpel if anything happened to Bright.”

Edrisa had the decency to blush. “Oh, well,” she said, sitting down opposite from Malcolm at the table, “I wasn’t serious, of course. Not that I wouldn’t think about it, but if it’s one of you, I couldn’t actually do anything. I may be protective, but I’m smart enough to know Tally could easily kill me if I harmed you, JT.”

“Maybe,” Tally said, eyeing her husband. “Then again, if he hurt Malcolm, I think I’d help you.”

The group laughed at JT’s scandalized expression, the sound filling Malcolm with the sense of family. It had been a long time since he’d been around a group of people who were loving and caring without being snide or controlling, people who could joke and love without expecting to get something back, people who could laugh. He hadn’t realized it until now, but Malcolm had missed laughter at Christmas. Hearing it again, surrounded by those who, though some would rather die than admit it, loved and cared about him, reminded him of better days and he smiled with bittersweet tears choking his throat.

Gil clasped a hand on Malcolm’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze. Malcolm had lost count of how many times his father figure had done that over the years, and honestly, he hadn’t even tried to keep count. At first he hadn’t understood what the action had meant and he’d flinched, thinking Gil angry or upset with him. Over time, however, he’d begun to learn precisely what the action had meant and now, it was one of the few things he could count on to give him peace and support.

Gil’s other hand soon followed, squeezing Malcolm’s shoulders and easing some of the tension in them. _I got you, kid,_ Gil was silently saying, and Malcolm let out a silent sigh, releasing all the bitter memories as he did so.

_This_ was what a family was supposed to look like. _This_ was what it was supposed to _feel_ like. And Malcolm couldn’t be happier to be a member of it.

_Finis_


End file.
